KNEE-DEEP IN CATS!

No, we have not bought another cat and as Leo is no longer able to reproduce, we do not have kittens either.  Let me explain.

Many of you know that we set up an aquarium for tropical fish a couple of years back.   When I was many years younger I used to breed tropical fish in quite a big way - mainly Lake Malawi Cichlids.  I was able to sell the fry back to the fish retailers so apart from watching with joy the mothers carrying their babies around in their mouths, the glorious colours etc. etc. I also made a little money.

However, I had one fish kept purely because I loved it.  A Plec (Plecostomus).  People either love them or hate them.  I love them because they are like creatures from prehistoric times.   They are basically a mouth in a fish body that suck all the algae from the tank.  I named mine Dino because he reminded me of something from the age of Dinosaurs.  He grew to be a very large size and sadly I had to part with him when we moved here because we did not have room for his tank.  Believe me, they can get pretty big.

Well, not long after we set up our tank, algae formed.  That is natural.  I did not want to put chemicals in the water.  I thought of a Plec but knew that there would never be room for one like Dino.  Then I remembered a smaller version, one that never gets beyond five inches.  It is called Ancistrus or Bristle-nosed Catfish.

 

I sent him indoors out to get me one.  Well, the aquatic store only had babies and he brought one of those back.  No problem, I knew it would grow with a plentiful supply of food, so into the tank it went. That was the last we saw of it, or so we thought.  No matter how much we stared at the aquarium he (for it was a male)  was never to be seen, never hanging on the glass sucking away which seems to be their favourite occupation and the algae did not seem to diminish.  We assumed it had not survived.  After a few months Mike went and bought another, again a baby.  Into the tank that went.  Lo and behold the original one appeared.  I knew there was certainly room for two of them in there so that was not a problem.

Well, they grew and they grew.  A couple of weeks ago I was sitting at the computer and glanced across at the tank.  I was puzzled to see something like a leech hanging on the back of it.  I went across and.......................it was a baby Ancistrus.  Who would have thought that, months apart, buying two very young fish they would turn out to be a pair!

The conditions in our tank are not ones suitable for breeding catfish, bright lights, few hiding places but nobody bothered to tell Shaggy ( named for the character in Scooby Do who also sprouts bristles on his chin ) or Shaggrina that.  They carried on regardless. At the latest count we have over twenty baby Ancistrus in the tank.  They are so cute, too small to photograph but perfect replicas of their parents even to the white dots on them.  The aquatic retailer has told us when they are bigger and we catch them (no easy job) they will take them off our hands.

However, this left us with a big problem.  What has mated once will mate again and Shaggy was busy chasing his beloved around and around the tank.  They had to be split up or we would have hundreds of baby catfish.  I could not bear to get rid of him, I had grown so fond of his ugly face and his very long bristles.  I could not bear to get rid of her as she always seemed to stick with her babies and care for them.

So, what did we do.  Yes, we bought another tank.  Out went our old sideboard in the lounge.  In came a new tank.  It took us a couple of days to set it all up and then we let it in stand for a while with just the water.

Then came the job of catching Shaggy.  This meant emptying out our original aquarium.  Catching all the fish (who are also breeding like mad).  Eventually we saw Shaggy hiding behind the black plastic filter pipe  and we very carefully netted him.  He was placed in the new tank.

Boy did he sulk!  He went into a large ornamental pot and refused to come out.  We knew he was eating because the algae wafers we put into the tank always disappeared.  Then one day we saw him just sitting there, glaring at us, probably staring with longing at the tank on the other side of the room.  Shaggrina did not seemed bothered, after all she has her babies.

Well a few more days went by and we thought it was silly to run a tank for just one fish so - yes we bought some more.  You may ask why we did not just transfer some over from the other tank.  No, we did not want to give them any more excuse to breed believe me. Baby Guppies and Platys are being born there on an almost daily basis.

So I decided on fish that were very pretty but very unlikely to breed. I decided on Rainbowfish.  We have two varieties, Praecox which are blue with red edging to their dorsal fins and tails and Bosemani which are blue at the front and yellow farther down the body.  When the light catches them, they are stunning.  We also put in three Clown Loach which are orange with black stripes.

Remember how we had a breeding explosion in our garden pond, countless goldfish and koi?  In our original tank they are still "at it".  I have tried to ensure this does not happen in our new set-up.   To start with Rainbowfish need a much bigger tank if they are going to breed  successfully and they also need moss to lay eggs on so I have ensured that none of that has been included.  But time will tell, time will tell.

In the meantime they are giving us such pleasure, I spend more time watching them than I do the t.v. especially the Rainbowfish because they are like little jewels.

As for Shaggy, he has happily settled down with his new tank mates.  I think he is glad he is no longer alone.  He now sucks the glass of the tank just like he used to and has adopted the ornamental pot as his home. 

We are still knee-deep in catfish of course, and it will be several months before we can catch and re-home them.  Whatever we are doing with our fish, we are doing it right, they are certainly very happy.

Have a good day everyone.

***Please note, the ads now appearing at the top of this journal are NOT endorsed by me in any way.  They were foisted onto us with no warning and no chance to refuse them.  AOL strikes again!  I also do not like the new idea of allowing other people to add entries to our journals under the new "Manage Writers" button.  So much for the AOL slogan of "your thoughts: your blog".  What is the point of allowing other people to add entries to your journal?  It is then no longer your journal.  I have voiced my opinion on the Magic Smoke journal where the new changes were announced at 2 a.m. UK time this morning.***

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